Of Pyres and Cinders
by Demetrion
Summary: Have you heard this one: "A Witch and a Spartan walk into a bar…"? No? Well then, pull up a chair, make yourself comfortable and listen to the story of two unlikely friends.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello and welcome all to my brand new story!**_

 _ **Update 03/23/2019: It's a series now. Yay?**_

 _ **Beta: Jiu-Jutsu Dude**_

* * *

 **Chapter One**

"This is just infru… infi… in-fu-ri-ating!" The red-haired girl exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air. Exasperation and despair were audible in her voice, and the slight, alcohol-induced stutter in her speech served only to stress it more. Her companion, however, didn't seem to be the very sympathetic type, because her only reaction was a single perfect brow raised in amusement.

"I keep helping him with…" The redhead stumbled for a moment, searching for the right word. "With… school stuff. Y'know, notes and ass…" A loud hiccup interrupted her speech. "Assignments. Yes, assignments. Only yesterday, I helped him with Oobleck's essay that he was late on." The girl's expression turned dark. "And you know _why_ he was late?! Because he was too busy writing another poem… for that… that _witch!_ " She spat the last word – quite literally. Her companion dodged the spittle with a flowing grace and gave her a look of disgust mixed with pity. "Ugh, sorry."

The black-haired woman sitting across the table made a dismissive motion with her right hand.

"No harm done. I suppose it is my fault, after all. I should've known that you weren't used to alcohol." She took a small drink from her own wine glass. "Still, it was only a couple of glasses and I have picked this wine specifically because it is very light, almost a fruit juice." She shot an amused look at her slightly tipsy drinking companion and smiled. If her features were less refined and aristocratic, it might've been called a smirk. "But apparently, I overestimated your endurance nonetheless. A pity, really." She sighed with mock compassion and made show of admiring the play of light on the wine glass in her left hand.

The redhead ignored the jab – if she had registered it at all, that is – and leaned across the table, gripping the woman's right hand with both of hers.

"Cinder, please, this is serious! You have to help me! I don't know what to do!"

Cinder looked at her younger companion and saw only a sincere plea for help written on the girl's face. That, and maybe traces of alcohol intoxication taking hold. Still, she was sure it wasn't the alcohol talking. The girl was indeed desperate, and looked at Cinder as if she was her only hope and savior.

Cinder rolled her eyes. The irony wasn't lost on her.

"Pyrrha, darling, stop worrying so much. You're doing fine."

"Really? Do you really think so?" Pyrrha positively beamed with joy and relief.

The expression of radiant happiness written on the girl's face was almost physically painful to look at. It would be just as painful to crush it, but it had to be done. Sometimes you needed to hurt people in order to help them.

"Of course, my dear. Keep this up, and I'm sure you will be his…" It was unbearable even for Cinder's nerves of steel to see the elation in Pyrrha's eyes after those words. "… best friend in no time." There, she'd done it. It was a necessity, and it was for Pyrrha's own good, but it made Cinder feel like a villain nonetheless.

It took a second for Pyrrha to process Cinder's words and then she slumped in her chair like a ship sinking beneath the waves.

"How did you know what he told me?" She asked grimly. "After I helped him with that damned essay, he told me that I'm his best 'girl-friend'. Yeah, he said it exactly like that, and then proceeded to ramble about how he didn't mean it in 'that way'. " Pyrrha made air-quotes sound like they were a pair of tongs which she used to handle something disgusting. "Honestly, it was almost insulting."

Cinder snorted at that.

"Believe me, it didn't take a genius to figure that one out." She shook her head in a show of amusement, but sighed mentally. How could this girl be so blind and, frankly, so narrow-minded? And that's when it hit her: Pyrrha Nikos was not just a young girl with all the emotional turmoil and inexperience that accompanied youth, but a young girl molded into a perfect warrior. A perfect warrior… and nothing more. One does not simply win her first tournament at the age of fourteen and hold the title for four years in a row – not unless she was trained for that for her entire life. Did someone ever take the time to show her the world outside of an arena? Cinder sincerely doubted it. After all, who cares about a gladiator's, no, a _sword's_ feelings and its plight? It has to be sharp and do its job when needed, everything else was… excessive, irrelevant. And it was always more expedient to forge a new sword then bother repairing the old one when it finally broke.

She couldn't tell if she was thinking about Pyrrha now – or herself.

That's why she was helping this girl: because she knew all too well what it was like, to be a weapon wielded by someone else. She couldn't change her own past or Pyrrha's, but perhaps she could help the girl have a better future. It was worth a try, and it was more that anyone ever did for _her_.

Cinder dived out of her thoughts and focused on the task at hand. So far, she had successfully directed the flow of the conversation towards a certain point, and all that was left now was one final push. She put on her best nonchalant expression and went for the kill. "You are so supportive, so eager to help, of course the boy is happy to have such a good friend."

"But I don't want to be his friend!" Pyrrha shot back, before hastily correcting herself. "Well, I do, but I want to be…" Her voice dropped to almost inaudible whisper. "… more than just his friend." Pyrrha's cheeks were rosy from the wine she drank already, but now she was blushing fiercely.

 _Done._ Someone less used to seeing their plans through might've cheered at the success, but Cinder Fall made it into a habit to always succeed in her endeavors.

She put her palms together couple of times, pretending to applaud.

"Finally, our perfect little champion admits that she might have helped her team leader out of something more than just pure kindness and camaraderie." She cocked her head to the side and gave Pyrrha another of her smug smiles. "You know, it is actually quite nice to see that you are human, with your own little desires just like the rest of us, and not some kind of flawless deity."

Pyrrha visibly bristled at the allusion to her hated nickname.

"Don't call me that!" She snarled at Cinder.

Cinder raised one hand in lazy imitation of a placating gesture.

"Relax, I was just teasing." She took another drink of her wine. "The point is that you, my dear friend, are just too nice for your own good. You would never be able to get ahead in this life and gain anything meaningful without being selfish. But, now you have finally made a step in right direction."

Pyrrha's eyes widened and her expression became very troubled. Cinder was willing to bet that she only caught the last part and was now shell-shocked by the revelation.

"Is it… is it really that bad? Am I really being selfish?" Pyrrha asked in horrified disbelief, and then nodded grimly. "Yes, yes I am. I only pretend to help Jaune because I want his attention." Shock and terror were evident in her voice, but Cinder couldn't help but feel that the admittedly dramatic moment of realization was somewhat spoiled by a nervous hiccup. "I am a hypocrite, aren't?"

Cinder let out a long sigh. Was she ever _this_ young and naïve herself? Probably, but she couldn't recall.

"Yes, you are selfish and no, it isn't bad. Or good, for that matter. It's just how the world works: everyone wants something from someone. And the difference between being a hypocrite or not is whether we're trying to lie to ourselves about it. You've just told yourself the truth for the first time. Congratulations!" She saluted Pyrrha with the wine glass. "Do you feel any better? They say that the truth sets one free, after all."

For a couple of seconds Pyrrha appeared to be listening to herself intently.

"A little, I guess."

"Marvelous!" Cinder cheered sarcastically. "Now, with that finally out of the way, care to explain me what you found in him anyway? From what you've shown and told me, the guy is pretty much a wet noodle."

"Don't you dare to talk about Jaune like that! He's a great leader and a brilliant tactician, and his combat skills have improved immensely over the past weeks!"

Cinder chuckled at Pyrrha's reaction.

"Easy there, lioness! There is no need to tear me to shreds defending your knight's honor. I believe it works the other way around." She gave Pyrrha a wink before continuing. "You know, I remember the legend about a great battlemaster of old that I heard once. It's said that he accepted into his army only those soldiers whose face turned red when they were scared or angry, and rejected those whose face turned white." Cinder gave her companion's face pointedly appraising look. "Well, looking at you right now, I can say that you easily could've been considered good enough to command a _battalion_ in his army. Who would've guessed that polite and soft-spoken Miss Nikos had so much fire within her?" She finished with mock disbelief thick in her voice.

But Pyrrha was still angry and refused to accept her light tone.

"Laugh all you want at me, but I won't let you insult Jaune! He is the first true friend I've ever had!" Pyrrha clenched her fists. There was no trace of a stutter in her voice and she spoke loud and clear. It is also appeared that she was speaking straight from the bottom of her heart, bypassing brain altogether. "And even if he is a noodle, he is _my_ noodle, so don't you dare, you hear me?!" Several patrons had given her looks after the last statement and some made double take after recognizing her, but she didn't notice, too caught up in her righteous fury.

There was a pause before her own words sunk in and Cinder had noticed that Pyrrha's jaw muscles made a motion, as if she was going to say something, but with visible effort Pyrrha remained silent, glaring at the brunette defiantly.

Cinder tried to reign in an amused laugh, but it was simply too much. The rich, purring sound of her laughter attracted no less attention than Pyrrha's loud voice, but she had barely noticed it.

"Very well, I won't contest your… _claim._ "She chuckled one last time before sobering up and continuing in completely a different tone. "It is good to see you being so bold and determined, but do tell me: will you be able show the same boldness tomorrow, when you're back in your comfortable school routine, completely sober and, most importantly, when you will be speaking with Jaune and not me?"

That last one hit home, Cinder could see it. The fire in Pyrrha's eyes died out as she slumped in her chair again, lowering her head in defeat.

"No… I guess not." She muttered not raising her head. She felt a stinging in her eyes and tried her best to hold back tears.

Pyrrha knew that by rights she should've been immensely grateful for the life she had now. She tried to convince herself that she should be happy and content with what she had. She had ran away from her lonely and restricted life in Mistral in hopes that new place would bring change, and her life indeed had taken a turn for the better since her arrival at Beacon. She had found great friends not only in her team, but also in team RWBY too, but… but it still wasn't enough. She craved more. She wanted to be loved by the man she fell in love with. Was that too much to ask for?

Pyrrha suddenly become aware of her dry throat. Was she speaking aloud this whole time?

A surprisingly warm hand had gripped her shoulder. She looked up and found herself looking at her unlikely friend's amber eyes.

"Congratulations. You've told yourself the truth." Cinder repeated her own words from earlier, but this time there was no mockery in her voice. "And there is nothing wrong with the desire to be happy."

Pyrrha blinked a few times and managed to smile. It was rather weak smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"I can sense a 'but' coming."

Cinder leaned back in her chair and made an applauding gesture again, smiling in return.

"My, aren't you perceptive? Of course there is a 'but', there always is." Then her face hardened and amber eyes flashed, any trace of amusement or playfulness gone. "There is nothing wrong with the desire to be happy, but desire alone isn't enough. It never is. If you want to be happy, you'll have to be ready to fight for it. Be prepared to pay for it, perhaps dearly. Do you think that you are?"

" _Am I?"_ Pyrrha thought about it. Was she prepared to fight for her happiness? To make sacrifices for the sake of it? The rational part of her mind argued that it was going too far, that all of this might've been just a 'schoolgirl's crush' she read about, and that they weren't in some kind of romantic melodrama, but she ignored it. She had a strong feeling that this was the real thing – and that it very well might cost her dearly. Was she prepared to pay that price, whatever it might be?

And then Pyrrha realized that she already knew the answer, she just never could put it into words. She made her choice the moment she pinned Jaune to that tree or perhaps even earlier, when they talked before the Initiation, or maybe as far as when she first met him. It didn't really matter now _when_ she made her decision.

"Yes, I am prepared."

Two incandescent emeralds met two pools of molten gold. Perfect white teeth were bared in what some brave soul might've considered a smile. Cinder was one of the few such souls who could appreciate the ferocious beauty of such a smile.

"So you do have a spine after all. _Good._ Well then, now when you know what your goal is, I suppose it's time to talk about how are you planning to achieve it." Cinder looked at Pyrrha who glanced away with nervous chuckle and realized that her work has just been cut out for her. "You don't have any plan, do you?"

"I'm sorry?" Pyrrha half-asked, half-apologized. "Aside from dealing with aggressive fans, I don't have any experience with... boys."

Cinder sighed.

"I really should've expected this." She took a second to marshal her thoughts and assess her task. "Very well. It is impossible to teach you the ways of women over the course of one evening, but I shall provide you with at least some basic advice."

And so she did. It was quite amusing to watch as the young champion's face changed its color between various shades of red, from rose to bright scarlet, depending on what subject she brought up during her brief lecture. She idly wondered what kind of reaction the suggestion of more… _direct_ approach would invoke from Pyrrha. The poor child would most likely faint, she decided. Or maybe not? Cinder looked at her companion and noticed that, despite her obvious embarrassment, the girl listened to her with rapt attention and appeared to absorb information like a sponge.

"It is a lot to take in, but I'll try my best to use your advice." Pyrrha said slowly, still processing the intel about this completely new battlefield. "Thank you, Cinder."

Pyrrha felt a wave of determination and vigor rising inside of her and it felt good. It felt right. After all, fighting for the prize was what she did best.

The brunet beauty sitting across the table nodded and took one last, long drink, finishing her wine. For a moment, the light sparkling on her long silky hair and her wine glass seemed to engulf her and had given her almost angelic appearance that starkly contrasted with her rather revealing black evening dress and the effortlessly seductive curve of her slender neck. She looked like an angel indeed – a fallen angel, to be precise, because all the males in the vicinity, patrons and staff alike, had been stopped in their tracks by this captivating sight. Women glared at her too, but their stares were burning with entirely different emotions.

Pyrrha giggled at the display.

"Cindy, you're such a show-off!" She shook her head. "Still, I'd be lying if I told that I'm not somewhat interested in how do you do that."

Cinder shrugged, thus making her dress flow in a very interesting way. Muffled gasps and sharp inhales could've been heard coming from the nearby tables.

"Practice makes perfect, my dear. And I suppose it also helps that I – and I can't stress it enough – am by no means what they call a _nice girl_."

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading!_**

 ** _Shout-out to the folks in WiP community, and special "Yarr!" to my crewmates from the 'Monster's Marriage' galleon._**

 _ **(This chapter was originally a one-shot that won Work in Progress community monthly contest for November-2018, by the way. Not that I'll stop bragging about it anytime soon.)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Better late than never, that's what I always said!**_

 _ **Beta-reader & security consultant: Jiu-Jitsu Dude**_

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

"Just look at this mess! We totally wrecked this place, didn't we?" A tall blonde girl asked her opponent while gesturing at a slightly demolished sparring arena, amusement clear in her voice.

Her opponent sighed.

"I believe it was mostly you, Yang."

"Well, maybe." The blonde grinned devilishly. "Maybe I did get carried away a bit, but only because of that hair-grab you've pulled, missy!" She pointed an accusing finger at the other girl. "My, my, who would've guessed that such a nice girl could fight so dirty?"

"I'm sor…"

"And I loved it!" Yang's excited exclamation cut the apology short. "Well, not the hair-grab part, but everything else. Gotta admit, you surprised me, Pyrrha! Then again, I probably should've guessed that you had some tricks up your sleeve," she winked at her, "with you being the invincible champ and all, but still!"

"Thank you?" Pyrrha offered, unsure. Knowing Yang, some sort of barb was coming next.

"You're welcome, girl! Sparring with you is always fun, but today was on a whole new level!"

" _Any second now…"_

"But the surprise was the best part! Honestly, I never took you for the type of girl who would fight like a mean bitch when pressed, but I did push you pretty hard, didn't I?"

"… _aaand here's the barb. Still, she's not entirely wrong, I might've gone a bit too far this time."_

Because they both were ranked amongst the top fighters of their year, Pyrrha often found herself pitted against Yang in sparring matches during Professor Goodwitch's Advanced Combat Theory class – the blonde girl affectionately called it "Big Miss G's Fight Club". Pyrrha was able to win the first couple of matches with relative ease, but with each spar they had, Yang adapted and was getting increasingly harder to defeat.

Pyrrha had to admit that today's match went a bit closer than she would've liked to the ridiculous name that Yang had given to this class.

She smiled at the blonde apologetically.

"Yes, Yang, you had me on the ropes and I really didn't like it, so I guess I got carried away too. I'm sorry."

"Don't be! If anything, I should thank you for going all out on me!" Yang emphasized her words by pressing her hands to the chest before grinning again. "And besides, I know why you were so feisty this time."

Pyrrha steeled herself for another quip with the practiced ease of a celebrity used to dealing with both public and press. After all, jokes and witty banter were Yang's meat and drink, so one could either learn to take them in stride – or just kill the blonde imp, because there was no changing her, and Pyrrha Nikos would never get _that_ angry over some good-natured teasing!

"You couldn't just lose in front of your man, now could you?" Yang finished, elbowing Pyrrha in the side.

And just like that, all her composure was shattered and Pyrrha found herself staring blankly at the grinning blonde. Apparently, her experience was not nearly enough to prepare her for the phenomena of Yang Xiao-Long.

Yang moved a bit closer, throwing her arm around the redhead's shoulders.

"What's up with the dumb look? Are you trying to feign innocence or did you really believe that you were subtle about your… _advances_ on our resident Ladykiller overthe past couple of weeks?" Yang waggled her eyebrows at the word.

" _Actually, I did. Damn!"_

During the last two weeks, she'd taken every opportunity to spend time with her frustratingly oblivious team leader and made various attempts to give him a hint about how she felt about him. And up until this moment, she was sure that she'd been discreet about her actions.

"Gotta hand it to you, girl, you have guts! Clearly, you're not very good at this business…

"Thanks, Yang…"

"… but you tried your best to get through his thick skull… well, in your own adorable, innocent way." Yang flashed another smile at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha felt the urge to shake her head to clear her vision, because for a moment she almost saw a certain devious brunette in Yang's place.

" _If those two ever met, I'm done for. 'Invincible Girl' my butt, they'd roast me alive!"_

Yang's expression became a little more serious. "You're a real champ, you know that? We're all rooting for you, even the Ice Queen said something about wishing you the best of luck if that would mean getting Jaune out of her hair." For a moment, she appeared to be considering something. "Well, she used her rich-girl talk, but I'm pretty sure that's what she meant."

Pyrrha felt her cheeks heating up from embarrassment at being so transparent. It stung a little to basically have her crush sublet to her by _his_ crush, but the support was nice regardless.

"The problem is, our Vomit Boy is dense as a rock, so I can tell you: he didn't pick up on any of the hints you've thrown at him."

" _Oh, that's just wonderful! So everyone got the hint except for the only person I meant to!"_

The screech of metal being bent with extreme force interrupted her miserable thoughts. She wiped her head to the source of the sound just in time to see the faint purple glow of Professor Goodwitch's Semblance dissipating around one of the protective field emitters.

They'd really done a number on the sparring arena during their match.

The Professor adjusted her glasses and said quietly, "That should do it," before tapping a few quick commands on her Scroll and turning to the audience, who were chatting animatedly amongst themselves.

"Attention, class." She said evenly.

The hum of voices and sounds of laughter died out immediately. It wasn't like a full auditorium of trained fighters were afraid of their teacher, terrifying as she was…. well, on second thought, it was at least partly the reason for such obedience. She waited for a moment after everyone settled down before speaking.

"While the system's resetting for a new spar, let's review our latest match. I hope you all have paid attention to it, because it illustrates several important points. First off, Miss Nikos, Miss Xiao-Long – excellent performance, both of you." She gave a short nod to the two girls standing at the edge of the arena. Pyrrha nodded back politely, while Yang grinned and pumped her fist in the air. "Now, let's break it down and see what we have learned from it." She tapped another command on her Scroll and the big screen that was showing combatants' Aura levels and timer during the match now started to show a replay of their spar. "Miss Xiao-Long, I commend your ability to find a solution against the range advantage that Miss Nikos's arsenal gives her. Using the recoil of your weapon to cross the distance to your opponent and then attempting to disarm them is a rather straightforward, yet effective tactic."

" _Straightforward, yet effective? You don't say!"_ Pyrrha thought with unusual sarcasm and winced slightly, the image of Yang closing in at pretty much muzzle velocity all too fresh in her mind. No matter how many times you saw it, it was always terrifying.

"By knocking Miss Nikos's weapon out of her hands and pushing inside of her guard you've created an excellent opportunity for yourself to force hand-to-hand combat on your opponent and have taken full advantage of it." The combat instructor continued, her eyes scanning the audience to make sure that everyone was paying attention.

" _Oh, she took advantage of it, alright!"_

Pyrrha fought back the urge to scowl. Naturally, she shielded her head when she saw a fist flying directly into her face, and honestly, who could blame her for falling for that feint? As the old saying went: "Aura or not, a solid kick to the head will make 'em flinch", and a face punch from Yang Xiao-Long would've most certainly made her "flinch". But the freight train she was expecting to ram her shield apparently had another destination, because it hit her right arm instead, sending Milo clattering on the floor – and that was just the beginning of her troubles.

Meanwhile, the screen started to show the next segment of footage. Pyrrha looked up and winced.

" _Here it comes…"_

"Now, class, I want to take this opportunity to point out the importance of hand-to-hand combat for you. Everyone of you will eventually find yourself in a situation when you'll be forced to fight unarmed, and mastery over at least the basics of hand-to-hand combat might spell difference between life and death for you." There was some awkward shuffling in the audience caused by Professor Goodwitch gravely serious tone. "It's a common trend amongst Hunters-in-training to become overly reliant on their weapons, but rest assured…" she gave the students sitting in the amphitheater a clipped smile, "… I'll put every effort into breaking this bad habit."

Pyrrha heard a giggle beside her and glanced at Yang who muttered: "Poor Rubes…" At first, she didn't understand, but then she looked up the rows and saw team RWBY's leader cradling her scythe as if trying to console a baby, and smiled despite her mood: Ruby Rose and her affection towards weapons, especially her scythe, was becoming one of the Academy's legends already. Poor Ruby indeed.

"Miss Nikos's performance illustrates my point perfectly. When she was disarmed by her opponent, she didn't lost her composure and managed to launch effective, if a bit unorthodox, counterattack."

" _I honestly don't know if she's being sarcastic right now or if she genuinely believes that I had everything under control."_

The screen dutifully showed another segment of the footage. "Close and personal" was Yang's domain, and the stone-faced Pyrrha on the screen was having a hard time withstanding the flurry of punches and kicks, but she wasn't about to give up, and their fight quickly became a furious brawl. Knees, elbows, headbutts - everything was permitted as long as the Aura was above the "red" level, and so she used it all.

She felt an elbow digging into her side, not-so-friendly this time, and winced. She didn't need to look at the screen to know what was being displayed right now.

The hair-grab part.

Pyrrha shuddered inwardly. Despite her desperate efforts, she was losing and getting angry. With a gleaming mane occupying a good half of her field of vision, the idea of using Yang's pride and joy against her looked very appealing, so she snatched - literally - the opportunity to turn the tables.

It took her approximately point five seconds to remember why exactly she never tried this before. And then Yang exploded into her face and sent her flying back first into the nearest defense field emitter.

Those eighteen seconds while she was hunkering down behind Akuo and slowly backing up before the flaming juggernaut were the longest in her life. She didn't recall how she managed to pick up Milo again, nor how she deployed it into its spear form. She probably used her Semblance to do it, but if so, she couldn't care less about the fact of using it so openly, she _needed_ that stop-gap. All she could remember was the desperate struggle to keep the monster at bay.

And then suddenly flames died out, and Yang stumbled, out of balance for a moment. A quick spear thrust was enough to push her Aura into the "red", thus ending the match.

"Now, Miss Nikos, I have no suggestions for you." Pyrrha nodded at the older woman. "Miss Xiao-Long, I'd suggest you to practice at controlling your Semblance. Powerful as it is, it puts you at a disadvantage when you fight against the opponents who can outlast you. That said, I believe that you did your best given the circumstances. Maximum points, both of you."

"Gotcha, Miss G!" Yang gave a thumbs up to the Professor and flashed her a smile. "Gotta admit, I'm surprised you didn't chewed us for messing up the place, but, hey, no complaints from me!"

"Why should I, Miss Xiao-Long? These facilities were constructed for that specific purpose, so you could go all out here - and only here! - and test the limits of your abilities." The Professor returned the smile, but something about it was off and the younger blonde's smile faltered. "However, I do not approve of such familiarity, Miss Xiao-Long. Maybe writing a thousand word essay on the ancient Mistralian warrior culture and traditional greetings might help you learn something about good manners?"

"Oh, come on, Prof!"

With an effort, Pyrrha restrained herself from giggling. Learning lessons the hard way was Yang's way.

"Oh, my, did I say 'a thousand'? I'm sorry, I meant 'two thousands'. Two thousands words essay by the end of next week." No, there was no hint of an apology in the Professor's "I'm sorry".

Yang opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, then her shoulders sagged and she nodded.

"Yes, ma'am."

"See? You're learning already. Now, take your places."

* * *

"That. Was. _AWESOME!_ "

Pyrrha winced slightly at the shout, but wasn't really surprised by it. Team JNPR's own juggernaut and powerhouse, the one and only Nora Valkyrie, was a very excitable person, and outbursts like that weren't unusual for her. The rest of their respective teammates offered their congratulations in a more reserved manner (or, in case of Ruby Rose, started to emit strange noises and make hand gestures that apparently were supposed to resemble some sort of martial art), but all seemed to share the same excitement.

All except for her team leader, that is, who just nodded absentmindedly, but otherwise appeared to be engrossed in his Scroll.

" _In all fairness, this shouldn't hurt so much,"_ she mused. _"Do I even have the right to feel hurt?"_

It still hurt, regardless.

" _He doesn't owe me a thing. I should be better than this. I AM_ _better than this!"_

Being better than this didn't help much, though.

"Sooo, Ladykiller, did _you_ like the show we put on? We aimed to provide the best entertainment for our loving audience, y'know!" Yang drawled as she took her seat behind Jaune and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Liked it? Are you kidding me?! I loved it! In fact, I've just finished downloading the replay!" The Ladykiller in question punctuated his exclamation with a wave of his Scroll and flashed Pyrrha a megawatt-strong smile while slapping Yang's gauntlet with his free hand enthusiastically. "You both were amazing out there!"

Let it be known that never before Pyrrha Nikos considered herself a dog person. But looking at this huge grin and these beaming blue eyes adorned by a messy blond hair, she felt something melting inside of her soul and realized one important thing: golden retrievers were _adorable_. At that moment, she vowed to herself that her future house would have at least two of them.

" _Ah, to be young and in love!"_ That ironic thought felt very out of place in her inner monologue and had stopped her impromptu journey to the dreamland quite unceremoniously. It took a moment before understanding hit her: _"I've been hanging around Cinder too much..."_

Meanwhile, Yang wasn't about to let go of her new favorite plaything.

"Loved it? Oh, be still my racing heart!" She pretended to fan herself with her left hand. "You certainly know how to make a gal blush!" Then she leaned close to Jaune's ear and almost purred: "And what part of our performance you _loved_ the most?" while winking at Pyrrha lazily.

"Your wrestling, of course! It was so intense!" Jaune's voice trembled with pure and innocent passion of a scientist, eager to share the results of his breakthrough research with the world. "No offense, Pyrrha, but when Yang was on top of you I thought that you're gonna lose this one for sure, but you've managed to fight back, and against Yang, no less! You really are invincible!"

Surprisingly enough, being called "invincible" by Jaune didn't rub Pyrrha the wrong way like it did with everyone else.

"I don't think that I was all that good, but thank you, Jaune, it means a lot!"

And she meant it.

"How smooth of you: complimenting both of us within a single line. You have a way with words, Ladykiller." No, Yang clearly wasn't done with her prey. "So, you _loved_ our _intense_ action out there, did you?" She intoned. "That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!" She hugged Jaune from behind, thus pressing the back of his head to her considerable chest - smiling brightly at Pyrrha all the while, who suddenly felt very warm and fuzzy inside too, but for a very different reason.

Even Jaune wasn't _that_ dense.

"Um, Yang? Wh…" his voice broke and he coughed. "Wh-what are you doing?" He asked in high-pitched voice.

"Why, I'm expressing my gratitude for such a praise, of course!"

Trust Yang to be helpful.

An irritated sigh prevented any future exchange.

"Yang Xiao-Long, stop this indecency!" The tone of that demand was curt, but there was a subtle note of amusement in it too. Then the speaker, none other than Weiss Schnee, turned her attention to Pyrrha: "And I know that I'm asking for a lot, but could you please refrain from murdering this blonde oaf? She may be an imbecile, but she's still our teammate."

"Aw, thanks Weiss! I knew you cared!" Yang let go of Jaune and kicked back in her seat.

"If it comes down to that, I'd much rather skewer her myself." Weiss finished with a perfect deadpan.

Weiss' dry humor defused the situation and everyone laughed, a little nervously in case of Yang and a little embarrassed in case of Pyrrha, who took the place next to her partner.

As the fatigue started to take hold of her, Pyrrha relaxed in her seat and enjoyed the warm feeling inside. Maybe it wasn't exactly what she wanted, but with her friends around she couldn't help but feel content: it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.

" _For now."_

* * *

 _ **And there you have it!**_

 _ **I'd like to point out that certain aspects of the combat segment were intentional nods to Jiu-Jitsu Dude's "Fighting Mean" and Coeur Al'Aran's "From Beyond" stories, so if you felt that the match between Pyrrha & Yang felt somewhat familiar - that's why. If you haven't read those stories, than I recommend you to check them out, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.**_

 _ **Oh, and Cindy was totally phoning it in during this chapter. Not very nice of her, I know! But don't worry, I have reliable inside info that she will make her appearance in the next chapter.**_


End file.
